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THE WISCONSIN DOMESDAY 
BOOK 



BY 

JOSEPH SCHAFER 




Reprinted from the Wisconsin Magazine of History 
Volume IV, Number 1, September, 1920 



THE WISCONSIN DOMESDAY 
BOOK 



• BY 

JOSEPH SCHAFER 




Reprinted from the Wisconsin Magazine of History 
Volume IV, Number 1, September, 1920 



Feb a 



By Traotsfei 

NOV 22 1920 



THE WISCONSIN DOMESDAY BOOK 

Joseph Schafer 

Under date of May 20, 1920, I mailed to each member 
of the Board of Curators and to a selected list of historical 
specialists a paper containing suggestions for devoting the 
Burrows Fund income for a number of years to the prepara- 
tion of a Wisconsin Domesday Book. I said : 

"In my letter, dated December 26, 1919, to the Presi- 
dent and Board of Curators of the Wisconsin Historical 
Society, I took the liberty of suggesting a plan for a future 
great history of Wisconsin which should reach very much 
further down in the social life of the state than any history 
that has yet been produced. The aim would be, I stated, to 
gather such abundant materials about our Wisconsin popu- 
lation as would enable us ultimately to point out the influ- 
ence upon Wisconsin history of even very local and seemingly 
humble individuals who had contributed ideas or devel- 
oped processes that helped forward the civilization of the 
state. Moreover, the proposed history would deal with all of 
the great elements of modern civilization, not merely with 
the political or the more picturesque social features." 

In order that we may really be ready in the space, let us 
say, of twenty years, or, if possible in sixteen years, which 
will bring us to the centennial anniversary of the territory 
of Wisconsin, to produce some such history as I suggested 
it will be necessary to do a thoroughly systematic piece of 
work, covering a good many years, in the way of collecting 
and arranging the materials for it. We cannot depend 
upon a merely incidental method of assembling the records. 
It is true that this Society has already a vast collection, 
much of which is available for any future historical work. 



4 Joseph Schafer 

But there are certain classes of data which neither this 
Society nor any other society has thus far made available 
but which, because we are already so forward in our collec- 
tions, it is possible in this state to secure. It will be neces- 
sary, however, to go about it at once before the older set- 
tlers of our communities whose memories go back to the 
beginnings shall pass away. 

Perhaps I can best indicate the character of the work 
which I propose by discussing it under the name of a Wis- 
consin Domesday Book. For I have in mind something 
quite as fundamental as the famous survey of English 
counties made in the reign of William the First, and much 
more complete with reference to the original population of 
the state. There is now in existence a plat book for the 
year 1915 which lists all of the rural land owners of the 
state and indicates the limits of their holdings, their names 
being written into the plat of each surveyor's township. 
Cities and even villages have generally provided similar 
records for their areas in recent years. No such complete 
tabulation exists for an earlier period. There are, however, 
county maps, and county plat books for most of the Wis- 
consin counties, which give similar data for the period 
around 1870. It would be a comparatively simple and 
inexpensive matter to bring together these county maps 
and plats into an atlas for, say, the years 1865-75; some of 
the county plats would be for the earlier years in that 
decade and some for the later years. But on the whole 
they would give valuable information for what is recog- 
nized as the middle period in Wisconsin history, the years 
immediately following the Civil War. 

Nothing of the sort exists for the pioneer period. There 
are indeed some maps dating from the 40's and 50's, which 
show what land has been entered, and in some cases the 
names of prominent settlers are written into these maps. 
But there is no systematic geo-social survey. That is a 



The Wisconsin Domesday Book 5 

great deficiency and one which for historical purposes ought 
to be suppHed. There should be a plat book or atlas that will 
give the student of Wisconsin history immediate access to the 
names of first settlers in each section of the state, together 
with an ocular account of the lands they occupied, as these are 
located upon the plats. 

The utiUty of the proposed atlas must be evident from 
whatever angle it is viewed. Early civilization in Wisconsin, 
as in other western states, results primarily from the inter- 
action of two forces; an agricultural population of several 
distinct origins and characters and a body of land which 
was at first almost free but which varied widely in natural 
fertility and in the ease with which it could be subdued to 
the uses of the farmer. The social historian needs to know 
in detail, at least for typical areas, the conditions under 
which the several classes of lands were occupied and the 
types of settlers who occupied them. He needs to know both 
how the settlers dealt with the land under varying circum- 
stances and how the land reacted upon the settlers economi- 
cally and socially. Numerous special studies interpreta- 
tive of Wisconsin and of American history wait upon the 
preparation of such a working basis as we have proposed. 
The history of education, of morals, of social amelioration; 
the history of land values which is becoming a critical 
necessity of the age, all need to be illuminated by studies 
based on concrete facts for which a knowledge of the pri- 
mary social and economic community elements is indis- 
pensable. Says Professor Frederick J. Turner (in a letter 
to the Superintendent): 'T should make in selected areas, 
detailed study of the correlations between party votes, by 
precincts, wards, etc., soils, nationalities and state-origins 
of the voter, assessment rolls, denominational groups, 
illiteracy, etc. What kind of people tend to be Whigs, what 
Democrats, Abolitionists, etcf^ This can be ascertained by 



6 Joseph S chafer 

such studies, and it would be the first time such correlations 
have been worked out on any considerable scale." 

Our problem then is how to obtain a record showing 
precisely when every piece of land in the given area (town- 
ship or county) passed into the hands of a private cultivator 
so that it could begin to function in civilization building, 
and who it was that assumed the responsibility of making it 
function. The settler represents the family; and the family 
is the unit in social studies. 

The surveyor's township is the most convenient terri- 
torial unit for our purpose because it is the government's 
starting point in preparing to make sales of its lands to 
private individuals. The original surveyor of a given 
township placed on record a plat showing its subdivisions 
down to one-fourth of a quarter section or forty acres; he 
also represented the rivers, lakes, or other similar geogra- 
phic features occurring in that area, thus making a detailed 
map of the township. The surveyor's field notes contain 
in addition a concise description of the land as it was seen 
by him in running the section lines. For example, on the 
line between sections 5 and 6, in township 7 — 1 W, 
Sylvester Sibley, the surveyor (1833), notes: "Land level 
and first rate. Thinly timbered with oak." And there is a 
similar comment for every mile traced. The government 
sold its lands in tracts of forty acres or multiples thereof. 
The record in the land office tract book, which is arranged 
by townships and sections, gives the description of the tract 
purchased; its contents; price paid; form of payment, 
whether in cash or in military land warrant, etc. ; the date of 
purchase; and name of purchaser, with some other data. 
In the United States land office at Wausau, Wisconsin, are 
found all the records of all the land offices ever maintained 
in this state. Under a law of 1883 the officers of the land 
offices are authorized to furnish to citizens, at the fixed 
rate of four dollars each, plats of townships showing "form 



The Wisconsin Domesday Book 7 

of entries, names of claimants, character of entry, number, 
and da,te of filing or entry together with topography, etc." 
The state land office at Madison has all similar data for 
entries of state land. 

The process of securing the atlas of original private 
grantees of the land thus becomes fairly simple, and we 
have already followed it through in a sufficient number of 
individual cases to enable us to test its working and to 
report intelligently upon its availability. We have ordered 
plats from the land office in Wausau. These were made in 
the usual way and at the legal price. We have then ob- 
tained from the state land office the record of sales by the 
state to private individuals of lands located in thes^ town- 
ships. And we have also obtained from the state land 
office the description of the land from the field notes of sur- 
veyors. With this supplementary material we have then 
completed the plats, writing state land entries in the appro- 
priate subdivisions and inscribing the surveyor's notes in the 
blank lines at the margin of the plat. The plat is then pho- 
tostated and filed away. All copies are made from the 
photostatic negative. 

From the interest which schools have already developed 
in local history study, under the leadership of the State 
Superintendent, county superintendents, and teachers, and 
from the peculiar adaptability of these township plats 
as material aids to this work, we have reason to anticipate 
that the Society will be called upon to furnish several copies 
of each plat to the schools. This will enable us to promote 
a praiseworthy educational movement which is directly 
in line with the Society's interest and also to make some 
saving in the first cost of the township plats. Since the 
process of preparing the plats at the United States land 
office is necessarily slow, and the school officers in some 
counties are eager to have the Society supply copies of their 
townships in September, we have given the register of the 



8 Joseph Schafer 

land office a number of advance orders to be filled during 
the summer. 

As soon as some of the plats shall have been distributed 
to schools and other local groups, work will begin on the 
second phase of the plan which from its analogy to the 
process of making the historic Domesday Book might well 
be called 

THE INQUEST 

The object of this inquest will be to identify the pioneer 
owner of every farm in the township, the creator, out of the 
raw land, of every self-supporting home. 

The primitive land was in part bought or entered by 
persons who never became settlers. At certain periods, 
especially, speculators were eager purchasers of both govern- 
ment and state land. Many names, sometimes oft repeated, 
of men prominent in later Wisconsin history appear on the 
plats. Occasionally some distinguished or famous name 
appears, like that of Daniel Webster, who was the purchaser 
of several tracts in Dane County.^ There are personal 
reasons why the land speculators are often especially worthy 
of biographical study; and besides, the business of specula- 
tion is one feature of land history that requires special 
treatment. But the speculators do not figure as settlers 
or cultivators, and in this inquest we are seeking to identify 
the settlers. This can be done only through local inquiry 
which should not be unduly deferred, for the remaining 
pioneers whose memories must be relied on to assist are 
daily becoming fewer. Another reason for avoiding delay 
is the fact that farms are being broken up, two or three new 
ones taking the place of one original farm, which process as 
it progresses will greatly complicate the inquiry. 

A questionnaire is being prepared to enable school 
teachers, high school pupils, and others, by interviewing 

' The name of Edward Everett appears on the plat of township 6, range 1 1 east, as 
purchaser of section 26 and the east half of section 27. 



The Wisconsin Domesday Book 9 

pioneers of a given locality, to supply data for revising 
the plat showing "The Original Private Grantees of the 
Land," or rather for preparing a new plat showing "The 
Original Makers of Farms and Farm Homes." In another 
place {The Wisconsin Farmer) I have suggested that high 
school pupils might do much toward developing farm 
patriotism and at the same time furnish valuable informa- 
tion by preparing papers on: "The Pioneer Makers of Our 
Farm." Starting with the plat showing grantees of the 
land, which gives the beginning of every land title, the title 
deeds and abstracts show all changes of ownership down 
to the present. From those sources and the testimony of 
remaining pioneers, or from the evidence contained in other 
written documents, or in local newspapers, the actual settler 
of land originally entered by a speculator can be identified. 
Should this plan fail, there are, as we shall see, other ways of 
obtaining the local testimony concerning the pioneer farm 
makers, and the county abstract offices can supply the data 
for fixing the time and circumstances of their purchases of 
land from the speculative entrymen. The point to be kept 
steadily in mind is that the local testimony is indispensable 
to the completion of the survey. If we were absolutely sure 
of our list of speculators in all cases, and also sure that the 
party to whom the speculator sold a given tract of land was 
in every case a settler, the abstract office would supply all 
required data not furnished by the United States and State 
land offices. But obviously we cannot know these things.^ 
Some are skeptical as to the historical value of material 
derived through the means of interviews with pioneers who 
necessarily rely on their memories for their facts. The 
answer is that all depends on the type of information sought 
and the method of seeking it. Ask an octogenarian who 
has resided continuously in section 6, township 7, range 1 W 

^ Lands used for other purposes than farming, as for mining or lumbering, will neces- 
sarily have a somewhat specialized history. 



10 Joseph S chafer 

since 1853: "When did J. Allen Barber sell the southeast 
quarter of the southeast quarter of this section to L. Fel- 
ton?" and the answer, while perhaps definite in form, would 
be of little or no value. Ask him if L. Felton (to whom that 
particular tract entered by Barber in 1853 was patented in 
1877) was the first actual settler upon it who made a farm 
of it, and the answer if definite would be practically con- 
clusive. The date of Felton's purchase from Barber can be 
ascertained from the record either locally or at the county 
seat. That would give the approximate date of his settle- 
ment there. 

The aim is, with the encouragement of questionnaires, 
to induce local inquirers to consult title deeds, abstracts, and 
other unquestioned local historical sources. I believe much 
can be done for us by teachers, high school pupils, and 
others in these ways. And everything that habituates the 
people to rely only on unimpeachable evidence will be a net 
gain to history and a net gain to our democracy which 
needs above most things a more general appreciation and 
understanding of the critical method of inquiry. The 
Society, therefore, as an institution designed to benefit all 
the people, can well afford to be patient even though local 
inquirers stumble at first in pursuing their inquiries. From 
the presence of the plats of original grantees in the local 
schools I am anticipating a powerful stimulation toward 
local history study among adults as well as children. If 
this interest materializes, it ought to be possible to have old 
settlers' meetings for an entire township at which someone 
appointed for the purpose would hold a genuine inquest 
covering all doubtful questions relative to first settlers. 
Such meetings might be timed to harmonize with school 
fetes, so that the younger generation could get the benefit of 
contact with the pioneers and of their backward glance over 
the history of the community. 

There are other kinds of information about settlers 
which can be obtained only from local sources and which are 



The Wisconsin Domesday Book 11 

of a nature to enable the historian to utilize them in the 
mass. So that even if in detail they be wanting in perfect 
accuracy, the general result is still truthful. Examples are 
statements as to where individuals and families came from; 
where others went when they left the township ; reasons for 
emigration, etc. The collecting of photos, sketches, and 
descriptions of successive homes of the same family or of the 
same home at different periods will be a significant feature 
of the inquiry. A very interesting point will be to obtain 
local evidence concerning members of the younger genera- 
tion who, growing up in the neighborhood, left it for the 
cities or for other states to gain a wider field for their talents. 
Some have felt that it was hardly worth while to take 
account of all settlers because a large proportion of these 
had no historical significance. For two reasons I cannot 
accept this view. I think the time has come to recognize 
that the opening of every new farm in the American wilder- 
ness was an original creative process significant enough to 
deserve a line in the general record of civilization. And, 
if the original settler did nothing more than open a farm — 
and, even though he may have done that very badly — one of 
his children or descendants may at any moment compel 
attention to the record he made with ax and plow. It is well 
understood that the American frontier has been a socially 
conserving influence. It has always furnished another 
chance for those who failed elsewhere. Every area, there- 
fore, shows a certain proportion of originally unpromising 
families who have surprised old neighbors and friends by 
the way in which they "made good." The pioneer farm is 
a home, and the influence of an American home cannot be 
gauged by the character of its original founders. Such 
local inquiries as are here contemplated should result 
promptly in giving us clues to the more important pioneers, 
who could then be studied with greater particularity from 
such sources as can still be found. 



12 Joseph S chafer 

THE GATHERING OF LOCAL SOURCES 

A very important feature of the proposed plan is to make 
a detailed survey, by counties, of the local historical records 
in order that these may be available for the preparation of 
texts to accompany the plats when the Domesday Book for 
a given county shall be published, and for any other histori- 
cal purposes. Well-trained men should be employed on 
these county surveys. They will be required to study the 
condition and contents of the county archives, the town 
records, school records, church records, records of fraternal 
societies, records of business houses, of manufactories, etc. ; 
to locate collections of letters, diaries, farm account books; 
and especially to list the files and stray numbers of early 
local newspapers. The county investigator should become 
an authority on the affairs of his county from its pioneer 
beginnings and might very well pursue his investigations 
along the lines of an outline history of the county. In 
some cases he might actually be engaged from the outset 
In writing the history of the county. Other workers — local 
members of the Society, teachers. University students hav- 
ing homes there — should be encouraged to work up materials 
for writing the histories of townships, villages, or cities. 
In each case, the township plat of land grantees is the 
starting point. It is a fact known to every investigator that 
the most eager and indefatigable collector of materials in 
any field is the person who is writing or planning to write a 
history covering that field. In such cases the interest arising 
from research for the sake of a constructive result supple- 
ments and adds momentum to the interest in collection for 
its own sake. The pursuit of data thus becomes intense, as 
with the lawyer who is driving for the facts bearing on a 
special case. The question should therefore be carefully 
considered how far the work outlined above can be assigned 
to persons who shall have the status of research associates 



The Wisconsin Domesday Book 13 

on our staff but who shall be dealing intensively with local 
areas, especially counties. 

THE WORK IN THE LIBRARY 

Corresponding to the work which is to be done and 
promoted in the counties and local divisions, there will also 
be work carried on at the Library constantly. This work 
naturally divides itself into several branches: (a) First of 
all, there must be a secretary to keep in constant touch with 
the local history activities. Such person will formulate 
questionnaires to be used in the local work, open and keep 
up correspondence with the communities that are making 
inquiries concerning first settlers, and verify the results 
so far as these can be verified in Madison. Also, a good deal 
of the newspaper study of local characters can be carried 
on here contemporaneously with the study that the com- 
munities are engaged upon, for in a large number of cases 
it will be found that we have files of newspapers from the 
localities under investigation. 

Another service which the home secretary at Madison 
can do will relate to the middle period atlas. This will not 
be a serious undertaking, but it will occupy at best a con- 
siderable amount of time. On its completion, an impor- 
tant study will be a comparison of the middle period atlas 
with the 1915 atlas, with a view to determining problems on 
the shifting of population, the change in size of farms, the 
substitution for American settlers of settlers of foreign 
birth, etc. The preparation of texts to accompany the 
atlas will require a large number of special studies, some of 
which can be going on continuously during the course of 
the making of the county plat books and of the catalogue 
representing our study of the social elements entering into 
the history of Wisconsin civilization. 



14 Joseph Schafer 

MONOGRAPHIC STUDIES 

Another feature of our preparation for the future great 
history must be the preparation and pubhcation of a large 
number of monographs on special topics, the general aim 
being to digest and interpret masses of material. The work 
of collecting materials systematically in many lines such as 
phases of religious history, industrial history, agricultural 
history, educational history, biography, will involve a 
thorough study of particular institutions, men, and move- 
ments. The number and variety of the topics to be treated 
are large and as varied as are the elements entering into the 
complex of our civilization. Some of the monographic 
work ought to be done by members of the Society scattered 
over the state, and they would need the encouragement 
which always comes to a worker from the expectation that 
his results will be published. Some of it will naturally be 
done by University students in history. In their cases, 
also, a readiness on the part of the Society to publish accepta- 
ble papers will prove a great stimulus. Much of it will 
need to be done by specially trained investigators attached 
to the staff. Publication activity must be kept abreast of 
production. 

RELIEF MAPS OF WISCONSIN COUNTIES 

In connection with the Domesday Book there should be a 
large scale relief map of each county modeled according to 
accurate, scientific data, and representing also certain his- 
torical facts like the originally wooded or prairie character 
of the land. In the preparation of such county relief maps 
the Society will have the cooperation of the State Geological 
Survey. 

SUMMARY 

We shall need in order to carry out the above recom- 
mendations : 

1. A field secretary of sound historical training to (a) pre- 
pare a guide to the county archives, and (b) begin the 



The Wisconsin Domesday Book 15 

geo-social survey by counties. Some necessary assistance 
can be engaged in the counties under survey. 

2. A home secretary of good training to promote com- 
munity local history studies, to verify and organize the 
material sent in, and to work on the Domesday Book in 
other ways. 

3. Additional stenographic and clerical help varying in 
amount with the development of the survey. 

4. A fund for publishing the Domesday Book, which should 
be printed in parts, the material for each county con- 
stituting a part. 

5. A fund for the employment of research associates to 
prepare monographs. 

6. A fund for the publication of monographs. 

7. A fund for the preparation of county relief maps. 

OTHER ACTIVITIES TO BE STIMULATED 

The emphasis placed in this paper on the Domesday 
Book, with the activities growing out of it and supplemen- 
tary to it, must not be taken to indicate a willingness to let 
other lines of activity suffer. I have merely pointed out an 
additional object to which, as I think, the Society ought 
to devote the whole or at least the greater part of the income 
from the Burrows Fund as soon as such income begins to 
accrue. Other activities of the Society, so generously sup- 
ported by the state during the past two generations, are of 
course to go forward not merely at their customary pace, 
but with accelerated momentum. For all of those activities 
will be rendered more imperative and more purposeful by 
the new lines of development planned. The editing and 
publication of significant documentary material, the collect- 
ing of newspaper files, of maps and valuable manuscripts, 
the arranging of the papers of Wisconsin public men, the 
preparation and publication of calendars of the more signifi- 
cant collections of historical manuscripts, the preparation 



16 Joseph Schafer 

and publication of checklists of the public documents of 
the state, and the building up of our magnificent historical 
library are objects in which the state is too deeply inter- 
ested and to which it is too deeply pledged to permit any 
diminution of interest on the part of the Society's adminis- 
tration. In order to strengthen those lines of activity, and 
at the same time to meet the increased cost of service, 
materials, and printing, the Society cannot escape the 
necessity of calling upon the state legislature for an increase 
in the appropriation for the next biennium. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



017 136 424 3 I 



